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Nematode Aminopeptidases

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Aminopeptidases in Biology and Disease

Part of the book series: Proteases in Biology and Disease ((PBAD,volume 2))

Abstract

The free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has proven to be an excellent model organism for studying animal development and neurobiology. Analysis of the fully sequenced genome of C. elegans predicts that there are ∼19,000 genes, of which ∼ 2% are proteases. The aminopeptidase family of C. elegans is relatively large and the use of RNAi and gene deletion mutants has shown that some family members have roles in embryogenesis, the germ line and growth. Expression pattern analysis indicates that other family members are likely to have roles in neurobiology, osmoregulation and digestion. A significant proportion of C. elegans aminopeptidases lack crucial active site residues, abrogating a direct role in the hydrolysis of peptide substrates. These so-called non-peptidase homologues include nicastrin, which has been shown using C. elegans deletion mutants to have a key role in Notch signalling. The functions of many of the C. elegans aminopeptidases are most probably conserved in animal and plant parasitic nematodes. Nevertheless, given the complexity of parasite life-cycles, parasitic nematode aminopeptidases are likely to have evolved novel biological roles, the best characterised to date being immunomodulation and immunoprotection. These studies are now being exploited to allow parasite aminopeptidases to be used as a novel therapeutic strategy for inflammatory diseases and also as vaccine candidates for the control of livestock infections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Salford, M5 4WT, UK

    Darren R. Brooks

  2. Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, UK

    R. Elwyn Isaac

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  1. Darren R. Brooks
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  2. R. Elwyn Isaac
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Leeds, Leeds, UK

    Nigel M. Hooper

  2. Otto-von-Guericke University, Magdeburg, Germany

    Uwe Lendeckel

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© 2004 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Brooks, D.R., Elwyn Isaac, R. (2004). Nematode Aminopeptidases. In: Hooper, N.M., Lendeckel, U. (eds) Aminopeptidases in Biology and Disease. Proteases in Biology and Disease, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8869-0_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8869-0_14

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-4698-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4419-8869-0

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